It is a popular belief in some quarters that the United States invaded Iraq because they began trading oil in euros instead of dollars and that we are on the verge of invading Iran for the very same reason — to defend the dominance of the dollar as the medium of exchange for buying and [...]

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The phrase "jumping the shark" comes from the TV show Happy Days where creative bankruptcy and desperation to keep ratings up resulted in a waterskiing Henry Winkler literally jumping over a shark, establishing a historical high-water mark for how far into the realm of the ridiculous and humiliating a TV show would go to attract [...]

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Drawing on the concept of the “Four Estates” of Republican France, it was once popular to call the press the “Fourth Estate,” a non-governmental entity whose independence made it one of the pillars which supported liberty, and an important check on the power of government. In a free press the people had a way to [...]

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Sometimes something which should be a non-news, non-story becomes a huge story solely because of the ridiculously over-the-top reaction which it generates, a phenomenon which seems to be magnified by the instant networked communication made possible by the internet. Such is the case with a recent Playboy article by Guy Cimbalo which was basically a [...]

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During the election much was made of the Obama candidacy in the context of the cultural myth of the “magic negro,” a figure in film and literature who aids the clueless white protaganist and helps advance the plot of the drama through preternatural wisdom or even a touch of genuine magic, with a bag of [...]

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“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…” The Who’s line is as true now as it was in 1971 and as true as the similar old French saying, “the more things change the more they stay the same.” The same idea is repeated again and again in folk wisdom from every culture, which [...]

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In a short and insightful article on Blogcritics, Kenn Jacobine has uncovered something which the media and all the blog pundits seem to have missed. There is a report from economists led by Timothy Kehoe which was commissioned by the Federal Reserve and uses solid historical research to show very convincingly that government overreaction with [...]

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When is an earmark not an earmark? Apparently when the president chooses to redefine the term so that he can live up to a promise that his colleagues in Congress aren’t about to let him keep. Traditionally the definition of an earmark (AKA pork spending) has been any item included in a bill which is [...]

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You may not have heard much about it, but there’s a quiet movement afoot to reassert state sovereignty and stop the uncontrolled expansion of federal government power. Almost half of the state legislatures are considering or have representatives preparing to introduce resolutions which reassert the principles of the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution [...]

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This may be a bit frightening, but I actually made a video blog. It was prompted by a video I found on YouTube of Saul Anuzis answering questions about his campaign for RNC chairman. I missed my chance to ask a question in advance, but I thought I’d play around with video and put my [...]

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